Normally Wiley Coyote (pictured against the NBA a few months ago) doesn't get the bird but this time he blew away the Hawks. Photo by Adelaide 36ers
Wiley found another level we knew he had stepping it up for a double double of 16 points and 12 rebounds in 24 explosive minutes.
THE WRAP Q BY Q
The first quarter despite the final result belonged to the Hawks as Ced “X” Jackson and Toddy Blanchfield dominated the Sixers early gifting them a 2-11 start. It took the injection of new import Demitrius Conger to spark the Sixers with a triple that lit the flame. Majok Deng obviously needing to lift looked the player of the latter part of last season got on a four point run before Wiley threw down the first of his emphatic dunks. Despite the dunk the Hawks had it all going leading 21-30 and the Sixers copped a Joey Wright mid-court spray.
With ears ringing Anthony Drmic lit the fuse to an explosive turnaround with five straight points of his 10 crucial second quarter points closing the gap to all level halfway through the second. Even bench player Jack McVeigh got in on the act finishing a bucket and getting up in Blanchfield’s face like your local Thursday night social player thinking he’d just won a ring after getting a score but considering some passion had been lacking it was great to see the young man show off his emotions about it. The Sixers stealing the lead by two points 48-46 at the break.
As has been the case in most Sixers game, young Harry Froling has set the tone when they’ve needed it but none was more telling at the four minutes in the third to go mark than a flat footed screen that knocked Jordair “Judge Dreads” Jett off his feet. Nathan Sobey drained a triple off the bone-shaking screen that could be heard all the way down to Wayville for Saturday church-ball and timeout was burned by a hot Beveridge. That set Jett off in the next couple of plays as him and his dreads became entangled with Froling as Deng also got in with some lip syncing. Leading 67-57 towards the end of the third, the Sixers blew the game open with Wiley, Conger and a DJ slam pushing them out to a 79-62 lead.
The Sixers were never headed in the the fourth as Drmic closed the game with a half a quarter to go with another pair of triples and Froling a rim shaking two handed big man dunk gifting some court time to the rookies even Adam Doyle got an open triple to go as the Sixers cooked the Hawks 104-79 in the close.
COACH SPEAK
Sixers Coach Joey Wright was relieved his team found the formula they’d been lacking in their game losing streak, “My job is to try and figure it out and their job is to carry it out. Tonight we got both of those right, we picked it up defensively after the first quarter.”
Hawks Coach Rob Beveridge was pleased with the start but cited other distractions got in the way of their mission during the game, “Out of the eight games we’ve had six really bad ones and tonight we were very good in the first quarter but we got distracted with too many things going on that we can’t worry about and we are struggling in those areas right now.”
DO THE STATS LIE?
The Sixers run and gun was back in the form of 24 fast break points and 21 points from turnovers. The Sixers also dominated the rebounds with 57 including a season high 17 offensive boards in their commitment to the glass. The most telling stat though was after quarter time the score was 83-49 in the home side’s favour in the second biggest win of the NBL season.
The Hawks shot 57 percent from the free throw line which given their inside paint game plan has some serial offenders, but certainly not if you’re the home side wanting some delicious cheeseburgers. As Beveridge hinted the Hawks had 19 turnovers for the match and made more than 10 field goals in the opening quarter but were not able to sustain that through the match.
WHATS NEXT FOR THE SIXERS
News flash ladies and gentleman as J-Chill rolled into town last season, they are back and have a solid run against the Taipans, Hawks in the Gong, Hawks, Bullets in the Ammo Depot and Taipans again before Christmas. The next month with Conger in the lineup shapes as moving time for the Sixers as they look to hunt their way up the ladder to the Wildcats, United and the Kings. All the teams coming up are on a sliding streak making it either the ideal time or the perhaps the wrong time to meet them. The Hawks at the Gong seems the toughest of these match-ups.
The Taipan as a creature as we know is dangerous and after losing seven games in a row, we either are going to see a pre-Christmas present or a repeat of the nightmare before Christmas 2017.
So will the good, bad or ugly Sixers show up this week???
ADELAIDE 36ERS 104 (WILEY, DRMIC, JOHNSON, SOBEY 16, DENG 10) DEFEATED ILLAWARRA HAWKS (BLANCHFIELD 22, CONKLIN 13, ANDERSEN 11, JETT 10)
CROSS OVER DRIBBLE 